The concept behind this tour is basically to take
two one man and his guitar storytelling shows which happening increasingly
frequently lately and put them onstage at the same time. Now I’ve seen both Danny
Vaughn and Dan Reed
do their acoustic thing on many occasions and know this is something both
artists excel at so it was a no brainer my ass was getting down to the Slade
rooms tonight for what promised to be a unique experience.

This tour has been called the Snake Oil and Harmony
tour and Vaughn informs us this title is based on the fact the pair would help
each other out on their songs and provide harmony and the Snake Oil was about a
bit of showmanship or as Vaughn puts it a little bit of Bullshit. I’ve seen
Vaughn on many occasions with and without Tyketto and he always had a
personable stage presence and can adapt to different atmospheres depending on
the style of the show he is performing. So his humorous side which is
highlighted tonight is no secret to me and he revels in the chance to relax,
joke and have fun with his time on stage. That said the emotive and passionate
vocal doesn’t disappear when he performs his songs but his stage banter with
Reed allows him to showcase other aspects to his personality and performance.

Dan Reed has always come across live as a deeply
thoughtful man who is all about the music and the messages that can be conveyed
through it. So it was a real revelation to me just how funny this guy is in
this very relaxed environment as he banters back and forth with Vaughn. His
opening joke regarding his sadness to Zane leaving pop group One Direction is
rewarded later in the night as an audience member passes down a present for Dan
which to much laughter all round turned out to be a One Direction poster!

The set flowed fluidly between Vaughn and Reed as
they traded lead vocals, banter and stories. Whilst the evening was very relaxed
it never failed to entertain and the air was frequently filled with laughter.
The set lists have changed from show to show so you never really knew what was
going to come next. Vaughn even jested about him opening up request’s to his
fans becoming a nightmare as there was so much variation in the requests, keeping
everyone happy was not as easy as he first thought fully expecting most people
to request the usual suspect songs.

They opened with the Dan Reed Network classic ‘Baby
Now I’ and Reed punctuated the Network songs with songs from his recently
released solo album Transmission – so from Reed’s songs we got ‘Losing My
Fear’, ‘Brave New World’, ‘Closer’, ‘Stronger Than Steel’ and ‘Get To You’. I
was really looking forward to ‘Rainbow Child’ one of my favourite tunes of his
and he did a great job with it and made it really enjoyable even adding a bit
of humour by changing a few words making it a little bit cheeky! Actually I
think one of my favourite tunes from Reed was actually a cover of Bruce
Springsteen’s ‘My Hometown’, been very proud of my town and loving where I live
makes songs like this really resonate with me and I really loved Reed’s version
of this song.

Now in a potential riot moment Vaughn announces that
Dan Reed was not only going to sing one of his songs but that song was to be
‘Standing Alone’. Now knowing how precious that song is to many I thought
regardless of how talented Reed is that may rankle a few grumbles from the
Vaughn die hards and was waiting for some boo’s thankfully the crowd tonight
were extremely open minded and not only enjoyed Reed taking the song on with
massive backing from Vaughn they also cheered and showed their love of Reed’s
version of the song.

The Vaughn lead songs which reached from all over
his varied musical back catalogue included ‘Traveller’, ‘Fearless’, Waysted’s
‘Singing To To The Night’,From The
Inside’s ‘Damn’ and ‘Suddenly’ which without doubt was one of my highlights of
Vaughn’s material tonight, John Hiatt cover ‘Through Your Hands’ and of course
the uplifting and crowd pleasing Tyke’s Classic’s ‘Wings’ and ‘Forever Young’
which saw the Wolvo massive in loud voice on backing vocals. Vaughn is and will
always be one of my favourite live musicians he never fails to make you laugh
and feel emotion. His passion and emotive vocals never fail to hit you and this
unique concert tonight is another highlight in my gig going history.

The encore features a tribute to Ronnie James Dio
when they play ‘Holy Diver’ and then Reed plays a song requested by Vaughn
‘Long Way To Go’ but Reed refuses to leave the stage without one more song from
Vaughn so after a chorus of ‘The Last Sunset’ from the audience Vaughn puts his
guitar back on and gives the crowd what they want. There is a great chemistry
and harmony shown between Vaughn and Reed not just in their onstage banter and story
swapping but also in how the back each other up on each song.

Reed mentioned that the Network are working on a UK
tour with five potential headline shows on the cards later in the year so I’ve
got my fingers crossed really hard
for a Midlands date! They also stated that they had discussed a Tyketto and Dan
Reed Network joint headline tour which I think would be a really explosive
combination of awesomeness if that happens next year!

The Slade Rooms show saw the largest turn out of all
the dates on the entire tour which is an obvious indication of just how popular
these artists are in this region and they are probably the nosiest too! Not
that I would be biased or anything! A fantastic night from a pair of real
musical legends! Oh and if you ever bump into Dan Reed please remember to tell
him your favourite song is ‘Tiger In A Dress’.